Meeting on women’s financial inclusion addresses gap in region

AMMAN — The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has the largest financial inclusion gender gap of any region in the world, said a statement released by the Global Banking Alliance for Women (GBA).

The statement, released in coordination with the annual GBA summit, added that women are disproportionately excluded from financial systems around the world, with a 7 per cent gender gap in global financial inclusion and a 9 per cent gender gap in developing markets. Statistics for the MENA region showed that only 35 per cent of women used banks, according to 2018 World Bank Global Findex data.

The summit, which ended on Thursday, brought together stakeholders from across the financial services sectors to discuss barriers inhibiting women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment in the region and globally, and how they can best be overcome with collaborative approaches that solve women’s needs.

At a press event held alongside the 2018 Summit, GBA CEO Inez Murray emphasised need for cross-sector collaboration.

“Despite efforts by a variety of players across the financial services ecosystem, the gender gap in financial inclusion has not moved since it was first measured by the Findex in 2011,” she said, adding that “approaches that have proven effective for women integrate multiple players in the ecosystem — both public and private — and focus on creating solutions”.

Dr Ziad Fariz, governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, discussed the country’s gender gaps in both access and usage of financial services.

“There is a significant opportunity in Jordan to increase women’s financial inclusion, and we have set a formal goal to reduce our gender gap by 20 percentage points by 2020,” Fariz said, adding that “leveraging fintech and boosting women’s financial know-how are key levers we are pulling, and we are working closely with banks in our country to help them become more effective”.

Nadia Al Saeed, CEO of the GBA Summit host Bank al Etihad, discussed the bank’s Shorouq programme — an initiative to support women with a suite of financial and non-financial services.

Shorouq has a particular focus on providing meaningful offerings for women at each lifecycle stage, including specialised products, services for women in business, women with families, women looking to re-enter the workforce and in retirement. The bank partners with a variety of organisations across the country to help them deliver on these offerings, Saeed said.

“In support of an economy in which women’s economic participation is crucial, Bank al Etihad is taking concrete steps to support women in Jordan,” Saeed added. 

Vice Chairman of Mastercard Ann Cairns, discussed the global firm’s role within the financial services ecosystem, and its latest efforts to create solutions that meet women’s needs, including partnerships like Jaza Duka in Africa with KCB Bank and Unilever.

“Mastercard is committed to bolstering the female economy worldwide as women are a vital, yet underserved source of global growth, prosperity and innovation,” Cairns said, stressing that “we engage in partnerships at both a regional and global level across multiple sectors, to help digitise ecosystems and propel women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment”.